Chinese Festival
When Dragons Dance: A Guide To Chinese Festival
China is the land of many wonders. Chinese food is extremely popular in many parts of the globe. Though not much famed or spread as the culinary delights from the country, yet every Chinese festival has a uniqueness of its own. The ever expanding Diaspora of the country nevertheless ensures that every Chinese festival is celebrated outside as with same pomp and splendor as it is in China.
Chinese people celebrate many famed festivals; some of them date back to centuries-old traditions. People in the Chinese villages celebrate most of the festivals in the traditional fashion, with the food, festivities, and rituals as were practiced by their ancestors.
Lantern Festival (元宵节)
Falling on the 15th day of the first lunar month, Lantern Festival (Yuanxiao) gets its name from yuan, the first lunar month and xiao, night. A full moon occurs on the 15th so it is also called the Lantern Festival (Yuanxi or Shangyuan).
The customs of carrying lanterns comes from the Taoist Theory of Three Yuan – Shangyuan (15th of the first lunar month), Zhongyuan (15th of the seventh) and Xiayuan (15th of the tenth), responsible for heaven, earth and the human world. For heaven, lanterns are lit, as the official in charge likes bright and cheerful things, and this has been the custom since the Han dynasty. All sorts of lanterns are now being made, in all kinds of shapes, and people also set off fireworks, making the Lantern Festival an explosion of colour and light.
UIIam-bana Festival/Ghost Festival(鬼节)
Otherwise known as Zhongyuan Festival or Ghosts’ Festival, Ullam-bana Festival falls on the 15th of the seventh lunar month and is a Buddhist festival dedicated to offering sacrifices to the ancestors. On this day, Diguan Dadi, the governor of hell, opens the gates and lets the souls out; people offer them food and drink on earth.
The word comes from Sanskrit and comes from a Buddhist ritual which originated with the legend that one of Sakyamuni’s followers saw his mother hung upside down in hell. He asked the Buddha to release her soul. The Buddhist monks were offered a hundred sorts of food on the 15th day of the seventh month under instructions of Sakyamuni. This way, his mother’s soul could be freed.